BIOMASS: ESA's P-Band SAR Mission
Journal article, 2026
The European Space Agency's (ESA) BIOMASS mission is a pioneering Earth observation satellite mission launched on April 29, 2025. Utilizing a P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the objective of BIOMASS is to deliver estimates of above-ground forest biomass, forest height (FH), and forest disturbance (FD), with unprecedented accuracy. The mission's primary scientific goal is to quantify the distribution and changes in forest biomass, thereby reducing uncertainties in carbon flux estimates and informing climate models. The satellite's advanced instrumentation and innovative approach allow it to penetrate dense forest canopies, capturing data even in challenging environments. The mission will operate in two distinct phases: the tomographic phase and the interferometric phase, which will support polarimetric interferometric SAR (Pol-InSAR) and tomographic SAR (TomoSAR) processing. Additionally, BIOMASS will provide valuable observational data for ice sheets, deserts, the ionosphere, below canopy topography, and other domains.
BIOMASS
P band
SAR polarimetry
SAR tomography
synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry
carbon cycle
satellite
Author
Klaus Scipal
ESRIN - ESA Centre for Earth Observation
Clement Albinet
ESRIN - ESA Centre for Earth Observation
Michele Caccia
Starion Italia S.p.A.
Adriano Carbone
Space Research and Technology Centre
Nuno Carvalhais
European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS)
Nova University of Lisbon
Max Planck Society
J. Chave
Paul Sabatier University
Jorgen Dall
Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Michael Fehringer
Space Research and Technology Centre
Antonio Leanza
Space Research and Technology Centre
Thuy Le Toan
Centre d'Etudes Spatiales de la BIOsphère (CES)
Maktar Malik
Space Research and Technology Centre
Antonio Novelli
Starion Italia S.p.A.
Philippe Paillou
University of Bordeaux
Kostas Papathanassiou
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Janice Patterson
Space Research and Technology Centre
Muriel Pinheiro
ESRIN - ESA Centre for Earth Observation
S. Quegan
Natural Environment Research Council
University of Sheffield
Markus Reichstein
Max Planck Society
Björn Rommen
Space Research and Technology Centre
Sassan Saatchi
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
H. Shugart
University of Virginia
Tristan Simon
Space Research and Technology Centre
S. Tebaldini
Polytechnic University of Milan
Lars Ulander
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Antonio Valentino
Starion Italia S.p.A.
Philip Willemsen
Space Research and Technology Centre
M. Williams
University of Edinburgh
Proceedings of the IEEE
0018-9219 (ISSN) 15582256 (eISSN)
Vol. 114 2 220-235Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics
Earth Observation
DOI
10.1109/JPROC.2026.3687416